Back in February, the Security Industry Authority (SIA) announced some key changes in regulation which will come into effect later in 2021. We accept such changes in regulation with open arms as they inevitably result in greater public safety.

The regulations changing in 2021 are twofold:

First aid training has been a requirement for applicants to the “close protection” licence, but now aspiring door supervisor and security guard licences also require first aid training before applying.

Until 1 October 2021, you will only need to undertake first aid training if you are applying for your first licence or if it has been more than three years since you last held said licence.

After 1 October 2021 every applicant will need to hold an “Emergency First Aid at work” (or equivalent) qualification to apply for the above licences.

While this does spell more work for aspiring security guards, being versed in first aid helps to enhance a security guard’s ability to keep the public (and themselves) safe on the job.

After 1 October 2021 those looking to apply for or renew door supervisor or security guard licenses must have either:

• Obtained a new qualification which was set in place in April 2021.
• Undertaken a “top-up” qualification to qualify older licence-linked qualifications under the new regulations.

These two regulation changes will mean some more legwork for current and aspiring security guards. However, the increased level of qualification will not only make for more capable security guards, but they also provide appliable skills which are valuable far beyond the realm of security services.

These responsible new regulations are reasons why we are strong supporters of the SIA, and their commitment to ensuring the highest standards throughout the security industry.

We are excited for our SIA licensed security guards, and those across the country, to all become fully first-aid trained as such a move will undoubtedly result in greater public safety across the board.

For further information regarding the SIA’s updates please visit the government website here.

Security work is rewarding work. Security guards not only ensure the safety of people and property, but they provide both clients and the public with peace of mind. If you are considering joining the ranks of the UK’s security guards, this is everything you need to know to get started.

A security guard’s first port of call is, of course, to protect. Be it people, property, or assets, it is the responsibility of security guards to protect their given premises from illegal activity, including theft and harm, and to respond adequately in case of emergency. In order to do this effectively guards must receive adequate training in order to understand the primary ways to spot crime before it happens and prevent it when it does.

As such, the key tenets of the security guard are vigilance, quick decision making and a commitment to safe practice. However strong interpersonal skills are also necessary, with de-escalation skills being critical.

While all forms of guarding will have some overlap and transferable skills, each specific form of guarding will require specific skills and training.

Manned Guarding includes guarding premises, property, and people by having a physical presence on site.

Mobile Security Patrols see security guards secure disparate locations over set periods of time from mobile vehicles.

Cash and Valuables in Transit tasks security guards to protect property or cash while it is being transported between locations.

Airport Security ensures that airports are safe spaces—from searching aircrafts, passengers, and luggage to guarding the premises.

Door Security places security guards at the entrances to premises, ensuring only permitted personnel gain access.

Close Protection tasks security guards with protecting one or more individuals from crime and injury.

To become a security guard, you must first meet the following criteria:

• Be aged 18 or over.
• Pass identity and criminal record checks.
• Hold a valid Security Industry Authority (SIA) license.

To obtain an SIA license you must apply directly to the SIA with correct documentation. It is illegal to undertake any security work without an SIA license.

Even if you have a criminal record, you may still qualify to be a security guard. The SIA is responsible for determining whether your past crimes or offences disqualify you from becoming a security officer.

You can use the SIA’s free criminal record indicator to get an idea of whether your criminal record will allow you to become SIA licensed.

As a security guard, you will likely begin working with a security company or agency. After gaining enough experience and further qualification security officers can advanced into more senior roles, opening doors to management, training or opening your own security company.

If you are qualified to become a security guard and have obtained all the necessary prerequisites, consider contacting your local security company to see if they have any positions open.

If you are located in Birmingham or the West Midlands, consider searching our job listings to see if TGF security will be your next employer. As Birmingham’s leading security company, offering a wide range of security services, we are delighted to onboard talented security officers when positions are available.

Whether you’re right at the beginning of a build or close to finishing, construction sites are a natural target for thieves due to the plethora of high value equipment, machinery, and materials kept on site. As such, it is important to keep a watchful eye over your site, both night and day. This is where construction site security comes in.

The two most popular solutions for construction site security are Mobile Security Patrols and Manned Guarding.

Manned Guarding is the archetypal form of guarding, placing a security guard on site either at a given post or to make rounds of the premises. These guards can protect a location up to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, providing you and your on-site staff with peace of mind.

Mobile Security Patrols offer a slightly more cost-effective solution to construction site security. With this style of security solution security guards will arrive on site at designated intervals in order to survey and check the premises. And in case of an emergency on site during their designated hours, be it an alarm response or a key-holding need, the security officer will quickly return to the site and take necessary action.

Thus, depending on your security needs and your budget, there are plenty of security solutions open to ensure your construction site, and all the assets kept within, will remain secure 24/7.

At TGF security, we pride ourselves on offering industry-leading security to businesses that need it. Our SIA licensed security guards would be delighted to secure your business, whether it be in Birmingham or across the West Midlands.

Our guards adhere to the highest standards of health and safety, being accredited and approved by SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) through CHAS (Contractors Health and Safety). This ensures that our guards will not only keep your construction site secure but will manage to do so while maintaining the utmost safety for your staff, assets, and the guards themselves.

As the economic shockwaves of the coronavirus pandemic continue to impact us all, it’s paramount for businesses to minimise running costs as to ensure profit margins remain lucrative. As a security company, we know well that the cost of security solutions can be a pressure on business, especially small businesses or those in their infancy.

When envisioning of security services most people immediately jump to manned guarding—the type where a security guard will remain vigilant on location. Although manned guarding is one of the most steadfast security services out there, the hourly rates it incurs can quickly become crippling for smaller businesses.

Fortunately, there are alternatives—the most universal of which being Mobile Security Patrols.

What sets Mobile Security Patrols apart from more traditional types of guarding is that they see security guards check on the site at regular intervals, instead of remaining permanently on-site. What’s more is that during their designated operating hours the security guards would also provide lightning-fast response to any alarm activations or keyholder needs.

For example, if you were looking to get your site secured overnight, a uniformed mobile security patrol would arrive on and survey the site numerous times each night. And, in the case of an alarm or keyholding need, the security guards would immediately travel to the site.

This means that mobile security patrols provide a sound alternative to manned guarding on sites where permanent, physical security presence is not necessary.

Instead of requiring an hourly rate, mobile security patrols are provided for set prices per visit.

Most clearly, this can help reduce overall costs incurred by hourly rates. But more importantly this allows you to gain full control over your security—giving you the ability to find the perfect balance to fulfil your security needs and while remaining well within budget.

As such, mobile security patrols offer a budget-friendly option for securing your site, responding to alarms and taking on keyholder responsibilities.

Here at TGF Security, our SIA licensed security guards would be delighted to secure your business in Birmingham or across the West Midlands. As we are accredited and approved by SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) through CHAS (Contractors Health and Safety), they adhere to the highest standards of health and safety ensuring that your site will not only remain secured, but that it will be done with the utmost safety.

No matter your industry, accreditations and credentials matter. But this is especially true for us, as a security company ensuring that Birmingham and the West Midlands can receive the highest-quality security services possible.

Thus, we are elated to announce we are continuing to uphold the highest industry standards, by successfully renewing our accreditation with SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) through CHAS (Contractors Health and Safety). This is incredibly important to us, as ensuring we stick to the highest health and safety standards ensures we mitigate risk at every possible point—be it risk to our security guards, our clients and their properties.

This accreditation in particular ensures our compliance across a range of different areas of risk management and risk mitigation.

This keeps another feather in our cap; next to our other approved accreditations which see our SIA licensed security guards, and team behind the scenes, work to the industry leading standards of ICO, SafeContractor, CHAS, SMAS and Constructionline.

Combined, this means that across all of our services you can expect a high standard of health and safety. Whether that be from our security guards during manned guarding, mobile security patrols or any of our other key services.

Thus, renewing our SSIP accreditation certainly means a lot for us—as it ensures that we will always be able to provide you with the safest service possible. And that is most certainly our top priority.

In today’s world we all await the holiday period to take some time off, spend some days with our families and simply switch off. But for business owners, this can be a difficult thing to do—especially with a potentially greater rate of crime occurring over the holidays.

This means, that in order to put your mind at ease and provide you with your well-deserved time off you need piece of mind that your place of work will remain safe.

Fortunately, security guards work around the clock to provide you with that piece of mind—and yes, that includes on Christmas and New Year’s Day.

There are countless ways to secure your business, ranging from mobile security patrols and manned guarding to key holding and alarm response, and these all provide excellent options for securing your business over the holidays.

It is also well worth considering whether your sector may be at increased risk over the holiday period. While most sectors may certainly remain at risk of falling foul to criminal activity, the reasons can vary drastically.

For example, the retail and public sector are likely to receive an influx of visitors—often bloating them to near maximum capacity and, as such, requiring extra security. On the other hand, corporate business, industrial sites, logistics & distribution premises, and construction sites are likely to see many fewer personnel during the holidays, making them a target for the exact opposing reason.

Thus, regardless of your industry or sector, it is worth fully considering the risks to your business, assets and place of work over the holiday period to minimise the chance of criminal activity.

Offering a range of security services in Birmingham and across the West Midlands, at TGF Security, we would take great pleasure in securing your business over this holiday period. Our SIA licensed security guards will work tirelessly to keep your business safe and secure. By doing so, you will not only be able to rest easy knowing your business will be secure, but you will be able to reap the rewards of a truly rejuvenating, joyful holiday period.

Earlier this month, we were elated to receive the news that our hard work to secure businesses across Birmingham and the West Midlands has been noticed by global business leaders.

Corp Today Magazine, the leading business magazine in the world for enterprises, selected us for two prestigious awards for our achievements in the security industry. The awards in question are:

• Security Service’s Firm of the Year – West Midlands
• Award for Excellence in Corporate Security

Receiving these awards of course signal a number of things, but what is most valuable for us is the fact that our efforts to provide the best possible security services in England’s West Midlands has been recognised, verified and validated.

These two new awards add further feathers to our cap, expanding our credentials in both our field and the West Midlands.

Our previous awards have seen us praised for our efforts in securing and protecting small businesses (Excellence in Physical Security, 2018, Best UK Security Experts of the Year, 2018), providing exceptional CCTV monitoring services (Most Innovative in CCTV Monitoring, 2019) while delivering outstanding security services across the board (Leading Security Company of the Year, 2019, Best Security Guard Solutions Provider (Midlands), 2018).

However, it is important that businesses—especially those providing an ongoing service—are never judged by any singular achievement, but instead by their ongoing commitment to provide best-in-class service. As such, we are delighted that these two new awards continue to provide evidence of our outstanding security services.

Of course, although TGF Security may be the name on the award’s plaque the award pays homage to our many dedicated security guards. The award is testimony to the fact that over the last year our guards have provided the best security services in the West Midlands.

But this comes as no surprise to us. At TGF Security, we value our guards extremely highly and are consistently aware of the lengths they go to in order to provide our bespoke, market-leading services to companies and businesses across the West Midlands.

However, we will take this moment to congratulate them on their efforts over the last year—and express how grateful we are of their incredible efforts towards keeping Birmingham and the West Midlands safe and secure.

We will take these awards as a brief moment to pat ourselves on the back and acknowledge the amazing work we have put in over the last few years. But we will also take it as a moment to set our goals for the future—something that, for us, is much more important.

In these coming years it is, of course, our goal to keep our existing clients safe, secure and happily doing business as we always have. However, beyond this we hope to push ourselves to do even better—providing bespoke security services with unmatched customer satisfaction.

But how can we do better than Security Services Firm of the Year I hear you ask? Well, you’ll just have to wait and see!

As we are entering another peak in the rollercoaster that is this ongoing global pandemic, it Is as important as ever to ensure that local businesses can remain on their feet. This is especially true for essential, life-altering services such as Birmingham’s St Mary’s Hospice which supports countless individuals living with terminal conditions.

We are proud to say that earlier this month we managed to set aside £250 to donate to help keep the hospice afloat and supporting those in need during this tough time.

Early on in the pandemic, St Mary’s Hospice sounded the alarm with an urgent appeal that has remained ever since. The hospice, as with many like-establishments, relies on fundraising events and charity shops alongside donations. Of course, for much of the pandemic fundraising events had to be postponed or cancelled and charity shops closed. Resulting in an incredible drop in the funds necessary to keep their essential care functioning.

Despite this, the good people at St Mary’s Hospice didn’t stop their care, even with their funding situation being totally uncertain.

The Hospice even revealed the fact that they require a minimum of £24,658 per day to provide their care to those in need. But with their usual funding channels closed £14,000 of this must now come from donations.

This is why we are proud to have managed to pull together the funds to do our part in keeping this essential service afloat. Of course, £250 pales when compared to their daily figures. However, when paired with all the kind donations from other local businesses, individuals and groups we can collectively keep this essential service available for those who need it.

As a Security Company based in the West Midlands, it is both our business and passion to keep those that live here safe, healthy and happy. This of course extends far beyond manned guarding and mobile security patrols, and into ensuring that local businesses and services thrive, while our local communities remain well.

St Mary’s Hospice is an essential component in keeping a large number of individuals well, specifically those living with complex and terminal illnesses. As we all know, this group is also particularly vulnerable to coronavirus and as such require extra care and attention through this tough time.

As the hospice lacks the means to secure funds the responsibility lands on the community.

This donation to St Mary’s Hospice continues to expand our donations and support for local establishments.

Back in August we donated £250 to Bromsgrove Men in Sheds initiative, headed by the charity Age UK, after it came to our attention that it was in danger for similar reasons.

Furthermore, we also recently branched-out to support our local football club, Bromsgrove Sporting F.C., by becoming a sponsor.

As this pandemic stretches out towards 2021 and shows little sign of slowing, it is proving more and more pressing to support local establishments. As such, as we progress into the new year, we hope that we continue to find ourselves in a position where we can donate and support businesses, charities and services in our local area.

But this way of thinking isn’t just for us, Birmingham residents or even those throughout the West Midlands. It’s up to everyone across the UK, and across the globe, to band together to support those people and establishments who keep the world turning.

As such, we heartily encourage your business to support the St Mary’s Hospice, or any project local to you which is need to financial assistance through this especially tough time.

Beyond helping as businesses, we can also all help as individuals—both financially and otherwise. For example, back in the spring St Mary’s Hospice encouraged its supporters to take on a bunch of virtual challenges to help raise funds. These ranged from virtual 40-mile walks or 100-mile bike rides and other activities which could be taken part in remotely.

Events like these go to show that there are many ways we can get involved and help support our local businesses, even if we aren’t able to donate funds directly.

Thus, be it financial or fundraising, business or individual, it’s important that we all do our part in supporting local businesses during this period. And we are proud that our £250 donation to St Mary’s Hospice continues our mission in supporting local establishments.

Trusting a company with your security is a large commitment, so it certainly isn’t one you want to rush into. Your business will have a swath of unique wants and needs, and each security company will offer slightly different services. As such, it’s worth committing enough time to researching the best options for you.
That said, research can often be extremely time consuming, so to help streamline the process for you here are our 10 key factors worth considering when choosing a security company.

Reviews and word of mouth is a fantastic place to start. The foremost place to find customer reviews is, of course, online. However, if you are in close contact with other companies who utilise security services it can be even more valuable to speak to businesses similar to yours. This not only lets you know what security providers they use and trust but can also help you to avoid any mistakes they may have done in the past.

Your business is unique, and you have unique needs. As such it’s vital that you find out early on whether the company offers the services you require. For example, if you require a manned security service, key holding and a night patrol you’ll need to do some searching to find a business that will satisfy all your needs.

It goes without saying that when you hire someone you want to be hiring a professional. As such, you should always double check that the security guards hold an SIA license. The SIA (Security Industry Authority) is the regulatory body for private security and ensure that a certain standard is upheld. Not only is hiring a non-qualified guard a bad decision for the safety of your business but practicing or hiring security services without the proper qualification is against the law. So, to avoid unforeseen fines or even up to six months imprisonment double check that they are fully qualified with the SIA.

Qualification aside, officers often have skills extending beyond security alone. First aid is a common skill, for example. It can be a cost-effective solution to hire multi-talented security officers.

Very few things are substitutes for experience. Being an active business for many years doesn’t necessarily denote quality but it does suggest a higher level of competence. Services with extensive experience will often also offer a wider variety of services, officers and have a plethora of previous clients who can testify their quality.

Depending on your requirements, you may want to hire a security company with certain levels of flexibility—such as short term-contracts, emergency cover and night watch. Alternatively, you may be wanting to test the water, looking for a service you can easily up or down scale without being locked into a long contract. Be sure to understand your specific needs before hiring and ensure that your service fits those needs.

Good customer service is a must for any service as it ensures queries or troubles are dealt with quickly and effectively, while keeping you satisfied. Low prices way below the competition can often imply customer service issues, so be sure to factor good customer service into your perception of a value service.

Fantastic customer service starts with being able to get in touch with your service with ease. If it takes a long time for your potential provider to respond to email queries, this could be a red flag. Both because it suggests poor customer service and it implies they do not value your query. Of course, long inquiry response times can be for other reasons, but it’s important that you feel your security service will respond quickly if there ever is an urgent problem that needs solving.

Guard tracking can provide valuable piece of mind. It allows you to keep track of where your guards are when and, ultimately, if they are doing their job. Thus, it’s a feature that can be well worth the additional cost.

Value is the word when it comes to buying any service. And while it’s easy to be sucked in by an effective sales pitch or a low price, it’s always worth looking back at yourself, and your business. First consider your original budget, then the features that are being offered and the overall feeling you get about the company after reading reviews and communicating with them in person. If you feel like you are getting good value while sticking within your budget, you’re probably along the right lines.

Now that you have a few tools by which to measure any potential security company, you are ready to search. Again, ensure you do commit enough time to this stage as you never want to feel like you have made the wrong decision after signing a contract!

During your search why not consider TGF security. We are a market-leading security company working in both the public and private sectors, offering a wide range of services across various locations throughout England’s west midlands.

As a local security company, based in Birmingham, UK, we pride ourselves with keeping our local communities safe and secure. However security is not always physical, and often materialises through economic support. As such, we feel it is paramount to support local business, which is why we recently decided to sponsor our local club Bromsgrove Sporting F.C., or, as we call them, The Rouslers.

Due to the immense financial pressure the coronavirus pandemic has put, and is still putting, on smaller local business it is incredibly important for communities to band together to stay afloat.

The Rouslers give is good reason to do so. Since their inception in 2009, they have slowly worked their way up from the Midland Football Combination’s Division Two to their current place in the Southern League—proving to be a local shining light with a presence in the national footballing world.

In some respects, however, what’s more important to us is all the individuals this sports team touches. From the beginning, Bromsgrove Sporting had a consistent viewership of around 300 keen fans. But during the 2018-19 season The Rouslers’ home games averaged turnouts of 952 supporters, marking them as the 43^rd best-supported team in non-league English football. Seeing that The Rouslers have had such a profound effect on the local community, both in and around Bromsgrove, really drove us to provide our donation to the club, and sponsor them.

With the shockwaves of the pandemic resonating through the country, and economic uncertainty endlessly rearing it’s ugly head, we feel privileged to be in a position where we are able to sponsor our local club, becoming one of the many business and individuals dedicated to keep the sporting heart of Bromsgrove alive.

Alongside our £250 donation to help support Bromsgrove’s local Men in Sheds initiative, spearheaded by Age UK, this makes for our second donation to local businesses in recent months.

If you are in a position such as ours, where you have enough funds to help local businesses stay afloat during these troubled times, we wholeheartedly encourage you to consider donating and sponsoring such projects. It is certainly not money lost, as many businesses view it. Instead it is money invested in securing the grounds around your local community which has, on a personal level, brought us further into Bromsgrove, revitalising the home-grown community spirit which is far too rare in this age of global Internet culture.